So durchsuchen Sie PDFs

You remember a clause, a figure or a reference number, and you know it sits in one of your PDFs. The file might be a sixty-page supplier contract, a tenancy agreement, or one of forty research papers downloaded for a project. Opening each candidate and pressing Ctrl+F works when there are three of them. With thirty, it takes most of an afternoon.

This guide covers the usual ways to search the text of PDFs, where each one runs short, and how to search inside every PDF you keep in Fabric at once: quotes for exact matches, filters to narrow the list, and results that open on the right page.

How people usually search inside PDFs

The find tool in a PDF reader (Adobe Acrobat, Preview, or the viewer built into a browser) is the default. It’s quick and exact, and it searches the document that’s open. Acrobat’s advanced search can also look across a folder of PDFs, which suits people whose files all live in one place on one computer.

Operating system search, such as Spotlight on a Mac or Windows Search, indexes the text of many PDFs on a drive. It tells you which files contain a word. You then open each one and search again to find the passage, and PDFs that were scanned without a text layer can be missed.

Cloud drives such as Google Drive can also search inside stored files, so a PDF there may turn up for a word in its body. The trouble starts when the collection is split. Contracts sit in a shared drive, statements arrived as email attachments, and papers are in a reference manager, so each search covers only part of what you have.

Step 1: Put your PDFs where one search can reach them

Fabric searches what’s stored in it, so the first job is bringing the PDFs together. Drag them into the web or desktop app, paste them, or click Upload a file; uploading handles large batches. The Fabric desktop app mounts Fabric as a drive in Finder or File Explorer, so you can move a whole folder of PDFs across as you would anywhere else.

PDFs that arrive by email can be forwarded to your Fabric email address, and the iOS and Android apps take PDFs from any app through the share sheet. If your PDFs are in Google Drive, a connection syncs them in both directions so they’re searchable alongside everything else. Connections need a paid plan.

Step 2: Search for the exact words in quotes

Click Search or press Cmd+F (Mac) / Ctrl+F (Windows). A query typed on its own runs hybrid search, which matches by meaning and by keyword. That helps when you remember the idea but not the wording.

When you do know the wording, put it in quotes. Searching for “force majeure” in quotes returns the documents containing that phrase and leaves out ones that cover the topic in other words. Fabric search treats quoted text as a strict match.

Quotes earn their keep on strings with no synonyms: invoice and policy numbers, part numbers, case references, a surname, or a specific figure from a report. A search for “INV-20417” returns the PDF with that number in it, even if the file is called scan_0032.pdf.

Step 3: Narrow the results with filters

A common phrase can still match dozens of files. Filters trim the list by kind of item, by tag, or by location in your file system. Setting the kind to PDFs drops notes, bookmarks and images that happen to share the words. A location filter keeps the search inside one folder, such as a Contracts folder or a single client’s documents.

Tags work across folders. Fabric suggests tags for each document based on what it contains, as part of its automatic organization, and you can add your own when you save something. A search for a clause can then be limited to everything tagged lease, wherever those files sit.

Step 4: Open the match at the right page

Results jump to the exact page. Clicking a match in a two-hundred-page annual report opens it where the phrase appears, so you can read the surrounding paragraph straight away instead of paging through from the cover.

PDFs open in reader mode, where you can highlight and comment on the passage you found. A highlight on the clause makes it quicker to point a colleague to later, and the comment can note why it mattered.

When the question is wider than one phrase, such as which contracts mention an early termination fee, open the folder and ask the AI assistant. It limits itself to that folder and cites the PDFs it used with clickable references, so you can check each answer against its source.

Frequently asked questions

How do I search for a word in multiple PDFs at once?

Bring the PDFs into Fabric, then run one search. Search reads the text inside every PDF you’ve stored and lists each file that matches, with results opening at the page where the word appears.

How do I search for an exact phrase in a PDF?

Put the phrase in quotes. Quoted text is matched strictly, so only PDFs containing those exact words are returned.

What’s the difference between searching with and without quotes?

Without quotes, Fabric runs hybrid search and matches by meaning as well as by keyword, which helps when you’re unsure of the wording. With quotes, it looks for the exact string, which suits numbers, names and set phrases.

Can I search scanned PDFs?

Fabric search covers the text inside PDFs and also photographed text in images. How to search your scanned documents walks through scanning paper so it can be found later.

Can I limit a PDF search to one folder?

Yes. Use the location filter to keep results inside a folder, and the kind filter to show only PDFs.

Can I search PDFs that are stored in Google Drive?

Yes, once Google Drive is connected. The connection is a two-way sync, so the files are created inside Fabric and stay up to date. Connections need a paid plan.

What if I can’t remember any of the exact words?

Search without quotes and describe what the document was about, since hybrid search matches by meaning. How to find a file when you don’t remember its name has more ways in.

Can I ask a question about my PDFs instead of searching?

Yes. Open a folder and ask the AI assistant, or right-click the folder and add it to the assistant’s context. Answers cite the PDFs they came from.

Do I need a paid plan to search my PDFs?

File uploads and the reader are on the free plan, which has storage and file size caps. Connections to other apps, such as Google Drive, need a paid plan. Pricing lists what each plan includes.